When the Icy Tensions Thaw

Tonight
a cricket chorus,
firefly light show.

Tonight
fish slow dance
in their dreams
after a day of
cool    clear    clean    calm.
No hooks,
no screeching parties
irritating the lake.

The crows,
strangely quiet this evening,
resting up, I imagine,
for tomorrow’s
raucous performances.

Tonight
my granddaughter settled
under Mommy’s wing
and their icy tensions thaw.
They move inside night
and read the stars.

There is a mountain of Silence
across the lake,
suggesting that I look
without words, that
perhaps the tumultuous waves
still roiling in my chest
might become this Peace.

Tonight
is an invitation
to forget the day’s
 accumulations and losses,
enjoy Impermanence
and Freedom.

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Questions for Contemplation

Is there a line, phrase or stanza in this poem that speaks to you? If you’d like to explore this further, choose one and reflect on it for a while. What is evoked in you? Take as much time as you’d like to contemplate or write whatever comes to you.

If you are drawn to do so, spend some time reflecting on the last stanza. Experiment with “forgetting the day’s accumulations and losses.” What is your experience of doing that?

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